Moving Roadtrip Florida To Portland Oregon Spring 2013

[TomiT]

My wife and I are moving to Portland Oregon in April or May of 2013, I will have my dog with me so stops every 3-4 hours will be necessary. I have looked at multiple routes from Florida to Portland but one that intrigues me is Florida-Louisiana-Texas-New Mexico-Utah-Idaho-Oregon. I have already done a lot of research and I am confident in this being the route we are going to take. I just wanted to find out about sightseeing options and attractions I should not miss. I am not to exited about the first 2 days of driving Florida to Slidell LA, and Slidell LA to Wichita Falls TX. But the rest of the trip should be great. 3rd stop will be Santa Fe NM 4th is Moab UT, 5th is Twill Falls ID 6th is Bend 7th and final day will be Portland. I chose the stops both based on distance and the location of La Quinta hotels because the have no breed restrections or extra fees for my dog.

I have plenty of roadtrips under my belt to know my limitations, although I have never driven more than 2-3 hours with my dog in the car, so I will take all the advice I can get. My dog Katie loves car rides, she gets exited at first and wants to see everything but then ends up falling asleep so I think she will be fine. The first 2 days including stops will end up being 13-14 hour days in the car but I figured I could get FL, LA and TX out of the way and then to the exiting part of the trip. I have never been to Santa Fe NM but have read and heard great things about it. Moab UT and the area and parks around I visited about 3 years ago and loved it. Never been to Twin Falls ID, Bend and Portland was part of our honey moon roadtrip so we are both familiar with that part.

* I also dont mind hearing about a different route. Google maps and Mapquest routes taking me through the middle of the country were not to exiting and I have already seen most of GA and TN so I am not looking forward to visiting them again.

[Southwest Dave]

Hello and welcome to the RTA forums !

We used to have an excitable dog who would not settle down in the car until we had reached our first 'destination' on our vacation. So we would load all our gear up, hook up the Trailer tent and hit the road, only to stop 3 mins around the corner at the local park to let her run. Any neighbours who witnessed this must have thought we were mad, but it gave us another 3 to 4 hours of peace instead of howling and fidgeting. LOL [Walking her to the park would not work, the car was a special treat !]

You don't say exactly where you are starting from in Florida but those first 2 days seem pretty long days on the road, especially with the dog and on a multi day trip could be counter productive. With the urgency and excitement of getting west, it could leave you a bit weary for the next few days of travel. Personally I would dial it back a bit, although you already have little time to do sight seeing with your schedule. If at all possible, I'm sure you would benefit greatly from an extra day or 2, to give yourselves a little more time from the car to enjoy the sites, these opportunities don't come around too often !

If Santa Fe and the route you have chosen appeals to you then it's the right one. I would be tempted with the thought of venturing into Colorado and perhaps across US50, but then again there are too many great temptations.

You will find this thread a handy tool, it's a list of places to pull off Interstate for a little R&R along the way.

[TomiT]

Hi Dave,

Thank you for the response. I am leaving out of Sarasota Florida. My first 2 days are very long I know. The only reason I feel I can do handle them is both my wife and I can split the drive. I have done Sarasota FL to -Chattanooga TN 2 times before with plenty of stops. I have also done Sarasota FL - Biloxi MS. These 3 drives have similar drive times to my first 2 days. from the 3rd day on the drive time should be about 6-7 hours a day ,maybe 9-10 total with stops. I feel if I get the first 2 out of the way I am good.

Also I figured there is not enough time for out of the way destinations and parks but maybe I can take non major roads and see more of the interesting nature.

I thought about US50. I would love to some day see Colorado but from Florida to Oklahoma I would probably not enjoy the view. My wife is from Greece and I think showing her the red land and hills in South Utah will be something completely out of the ordinary.

[Southwest Dave]

I think showing her the red land and hills in South Utah will be something completely out of the ordinary

It certainly will, I love this landscape, we don't see the likes of it in Europe !

Have a safe trip.

[Tom V]

Sounds like a good plan to me! If you are someone who doesn't quite get to take long road trips often, you definitely will want to choose your route carefully so you get to see everything you want to see in one trip, and it seems like you have put a lot of thought into that already and have well laid-out plans. I hope you enjoy your trip!